Dollar rises; earnings help Europe stocks

By Natsuko Waki

LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar rose across the board on Thursday as robust U.S. economic data raised the prospect of the withdrawal of monetary stimulus, while some positive earnings results boosted European stocks.

The euro remained under pressure from persistent concerns over Greece's debt crisis, while a firmer dollar and the IMF's plan to sell more gold weighed on the metal and other commodities.

Wednesday's upbeat data on the U.S. housing and industrial sector and evidence that the Federal Reserve had discussed strategies to withdraw some of its emergency stimulus buoyed the dollar.

In contrast, the picture in the euro zone may be deteriorating because of an expected impact on growth from a lingering debt crisis and fiscal austerity measures.

"The ECB (European Central Bank) tightening risks being delayed, and yield differentials are playing in favor of a lower euro/dollar," said Tom Levinson, currency strategist at ING.

The dollar .DXY rose 0.3 percent against a basket of major currencies while the euro lost a third percent to $1.3566.

The minutes from the January Fed meeting showed several policymakers wanted to begin selling securities relatively soon to cut back on the central bank's extraordinary economic support programme.

"It is the FOMC's commentary on asset sales and the view that policy tightening is likely to precede any decision to start shrinking the Fed's balance sheet that makes it difficult to not to be bullish on the dollar," Lloyds TSB said in a note to clients.